Doll&#39;s eye provided with magnetic means



y 1968 J. BONANNO 3,383,793

DOLLS EYE PROVIDED WITH MAGNETIC MEANS Filed July 5, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l /0 2/ INVENTOR:

M 6 705529 45.0mm

May 21, I968 J. l BONANNO 3,383,793

DQLL'S EYE PROVIDED WITH MAGNETIC MEANS Filed July 5, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet z 2 FIG. 7 Z

BY 1v g A ORNEYS United States Patent 3,383,793 DGLLS EYE PROViDED WHTH MAGNETHI MEANS Joseph L. Bouanno, South Orange, Ni, assignor, by

mesne assignments, to De Luxe Topper Corporation, Elizabeth, N.J., a corporation of Delaware Filed July 5, 1966, Ser. No. 562,659 Claims. (Cl. 46235) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to toys having movable simulated eyes, and has particular reference to an arrangement for controlling the opening and closing of the eyes.

While the invention will be described in connection with a doll having a human-1ike head, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to a doll, but is applicable to any toy animal.

In presently known dolls having eyes which pivot between open aud closed positions, the eye mechanism is eccentrically weighted with respect to its pivot axis so that the eye will be actuated by gravitational forces. For example, many dolls are provided with eyes which close when the body of the doll is moved from a standing to a reclining position, and opened when the doll is returned to an erect position. In other conventional dolls, the eyes close when the head is tilted or rotated to one side or the other, and open when the head faces front. It will be appreciated, therefore, that in conventional dolls, the position of the eyes is dependent upon the position of the doll as a whole. Furthermore, other real-life eye movements, such as winking, cannot be reproduced in dolls using the known eye control mechanisms without manipulating the doll as a whole.

It is a general object of this invention to provide, in 'a toy doll, an eye structure operable independently of the position of the dolls body.

It is another object of this invention to provide in a toy doll, simulated eyes which may be opened and closed without moving or touching the doll.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an eye structure in which the open or closed condition of the eyes may remain unchanged when the doll is moved.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an eye control mechanism for use in a doll, in which intermittent or blinking movement of the eyes may be simulated without moving or otherwise touching the doll.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a dolls eye structure in which the condition of the eye may be controlled by means external and unconnected to the body of the doll.

It is a feature of this invention to secure a magnet to an eye assembly, one of such assemblies being provided for each eye of the doll.

The eye assembly is pivotally mounted within a housing which is secured to the interior of the dolls head. The magnet associated with each eye assembly is adapted to be moved by the magnetic field of an external magnet, to cause the eye assembly to pivot to either an open or closed position, when the external magnetic field is brought close enough to the magnet of the eye to produce a significant force on the latter.

3,383,793 ?atented May 21, 1968 The external magnet may either be a permanent magnet carried by the child which is placed near the eyes, or it may be a remotely controlled electrorn'agnet located in the dolls head near the eyes.

Another feature of this invention is the fact that the eye assembly is perfectly balanced with respect to its pivot axis so that the eye does not move with respect to the remainder of the doll when the doll as a whole is moved.

it is also a feature of this invention to provide a leg extending rearwardly from the eye assembly which abuts against opposed spaced-apart ledges formed in the housing, to limit the pivotal movement of the eye assembly and thereby define the open and closed positions of the dolls eyes.

In the drawings, which illustrate 'a preferred embodiment of this invention:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the head of a doll in which the present invention may be incorporated;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section along the line 22 of FIG. 1, showing the dolls eye in the open position and also showing an illustrative external magnet placed near the dolls eye to control its operation;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 showing the eye in the closed position, the external magnet being represented by the dot-dash lines;

FIG. 4 is a vertical section taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a horizontal section taken along line 55 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation, partly broken away, of the eye assembly, illustrating the manner in which the two component parts of the eye assembly are assembled;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 2, but including a schematic illustration of an electromagnetic means for controlling the eye movement;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 showing an alternative electromagnetic means;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating features of a further embodiment of this invention; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of this invention.

A head iii of a doll isshown in FIG. 1. The head 10 has a hollow interior and is made from any pliable, rubber-like material, such as a suitable plastic, which in the present example is formed to simulate the appearance of a childs head. Simulated hair 11 is placed on the top of head 10. At the location of each eye socket, a relatively thin walled pouch 12 (FIGS. 2, 3, and 5) extends rearw'ardly into the interior of head 10. Each pouch is integral with the head 19, and has an opening 9 in the plane of the dolls face.

Each pouch 12 accommodates a housing within which an eye assembly is pivotably supported. Each housing comprises a body 13 and a cover 19 (FIGS. 2, 4, and 5), the cover being provided with an elliptical opening 21 at its center. Since the head it) is formed of yieldable material, the opening 9 of each pouch can be stretched to permit a housing l3, 19 to be inserted into the pouch, and upon release the edges of the opening 9 snap over the cover 19 of the housing and prevent removal of the housing and the eye assembly contained in it. In this way, the housing 13, 19 is held snugly Within the punch 12.

It is to be understood, that two identical eye assemblies are disposed within two identical housings, which in turn are placed within two adjoining pouches in the head of the doll. For ease in description, however, only one such eye assembly, housing, and pouch are shown in FIGS. 2-6.

The housing body 13 is formed at its forward edge with a pair of diarnmetrically opposed grooves 14 (FIGS.

s3 4 and 5) which serve as pivot seats for the piutles projecting from the eye assembly to be described below. At the rear of the body 13, two interior ledges and 17 are formed, the ledges cooperating with a leg projecting rearwardly from the eye assembly to limit the pivotal movement of the latter.

The eye assembly 16 of the illustrative embodiment of this invention, comprises two major component parts. The first of these parts is a subtantially hemispherical shell 18, bearing a representation of the cornea of an eye on its front face 20.

An eyelash 22, made of hair-like fibers, is placed within a slit 23 formed in shell 18, and is secured therein, in well-known manner, by means such as gluing.

Two pintles 28 (FIGS. 4-6) project laterally outwardly from the shell 18 in opposite directions. The pintles are adapted to seat in the grooves 14 formed in the housing body 13 to pivotally support the eye assembly in the housing. For the purpose of supporting the second part of the eye assembly to the shell 18, the latter is formed with a rearwardly extending post 24 adjacent to each pintle 28 (FIGS. 5 and 6) and a third rearwardly extending post (FIGS. 2, 3, and 6) at the bottom of the shell. In addition, the upper edge of the shell 18 is formed with an inwardly projecting tab 26.

The second of the parts forming the eye assembly 16 is an armature 3t). Armature 30 comprises a central section 32, an upwardly projecting leg 34 (FIGS. 2, 3, and 6), a rearwardly projecting leg 36, and two lateral shoulders 38 (FIGS. 4 and 6).

To form eye assembly 16, the armature 3% is snapped into the hollow interior of shell 18 by first engaging a notch 49, formed in the upmr edge of leg 34, with tab 26, as shown in FIG. 6. The armature 30 is then swung in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 6, until the shoulders 38 come to rest on the posts 24 (FIG. 4) and the lower surface of armature 36 comes to rest on the lower post 25 (FIG. 2). The distance between the notch 40 and the lower front edge 41 of the armature 39 is slightly greater than the distance between the tab 26 and the upper face of the post 25. Consequently, the shell 18 must yield slightly as the armature is swung from the position shown in FIG. 6 to that shown in FIG. 2. Therefore, once the armature 39 and shell 18 are completely assembled, they cannot separate accidentally.

The completed eye assembly 16 is prefectly balanced about the pivoting axis defined by the axis of the pintles 28. That is, the combined structure of the shell 18 and armature 30 forms an assembly which is perfectly balanced about the axis of rotation, so that once the assembly 16 is placed in any desired position, it will maintain that position regardless of changes in the position of the doll.

This balancing is achieved by properly selecting dimensions of the various sections of armature 30, to counterbalance the weight of shell 18.

The position of the eye assembly 16 is therefore completely independent of gravitational forces.

An opening 42 is formed within the central section 32 of the armature into which a disc-shaped permanent magnet 44 is tightly fitted. It is important that the fit of the magnet 44 within opening 42 be tight enough to prevent rotation of the magnet with respect to the armature 31 As seen best in FIGS. 2 and 3, the longitudinal axis of magnet 44 coincides with the axis of the pintles 28 (shown in the dotted lines in FIGS. 2 and 3). Thus, the magnet 44, as well as the remainder of the eye assembly 16, is perfectly balanced with respect to the pivot axis of the eye assembly. The magnetic axis of magnet 44 extends normally to its longitudinal axis, and generally along a line extending from the front of the head 10 of the doll toward the back. For purposes of illustration the south pole S of the magnet 44 is shown oriented towards the front of the dolls head, while the north pole N is directed towards the rear of head 10.

Once the armature 30 is assembled with the shell 18, the eye assembly 16 thus formed is inserted into housing body 13. Pintles 28 are placed within grooves 14 to permit the eye assembly 16 to pivot within housing body 13, about the axis of the pintles. The cover 19 is then permanently secured to the housing body 13 to retain the eye assembly 16 within the housing 13. The opening 21 in cover 19 allows the representation of the eye on the front face 2%) of the shell 18 to appear at the opening 9 of the pouch 12.

The operation of the eye will now be readily understood. An external control magnet, such as a bar magnet 48 which may be contained within a non-magnetic casing 50 is placed in close proximity to the face of the doll. Assuming that the pole of the magnet 48 nearest the doll is a south pole S, the magnetic field around the south pole of the control magnet 48 will repel the south pole S of the magnet 44. Thus, as shown in FIG. 2, if the control magnet 48 is held below the eye, the magnet 44 will tend to pivot in a clockwise direction. Since magnet 44 is fixed to the remainder of the eye assembly 16, the entire assembly 16 will pivot about the axis of the pintles 28 to the open position shown in FIG. 2. The extent to which the assembly 16 may pivot is limited by the abutment of leg 36 against lower edge 17.

When the south pole of the control magnet 48 is placed above the eye assembly 16 (FIG. 3), the repellant force between the adjacent south poles causes the assembly 16 to pivot in a counterclockwise manner to close the eye as shown in FIG. 2. The extent of this pivoting movement is limited by the abutment of leg 36 against the upper ledge 15.

Since the eye assembly is balanced about the pivot axis, it will remain in position until the external magnet 48 is once again moved in position to pivot the eye assembly 16. Otherwise, assembly 16 will remain in the previously selected condition even though the position of the doll is changed.

In use, the child simply moves the external magnet to the proper position with respect to the head 10 of the doll, to perform any desired movements of the eyes. This may be done without touching or moving the doll, and if the external magnet is housed in an inconspicuous or disguised easing, the source of the eye control may be completely hidden from view, thus making the eye control even more natural and more entertaining to the child.

FIGS. 710 represent several possible variations which may be utilized to provide the magnetic control by means of which the eye is opened and closed. The design of the eye assembly is substantially identical to that described above with the exception that a slight modification is made to the housing body 13 in the embodiment of FIG. 8, as will be described below.

Referring first to the embodiment of FIG. 7 in which elements identical to the eye construction described above are identified by corresponding reference numerals, a solenoid 52 is disposed around the housing body 13 of the eye. Leads 54 and 56 connect coil 52 to contacts 58 and 60, respectively, of a current reversing switch 62. Leads 64 and 66 are respectively connected at one end to the positive and negative poles of a voltage source, such as a battery 68, and are respectively connected at their other ends to switch contacts 65 and 67 of switch 62. Contacts 76 and 72 are electrically connected to contacts 58 and respectively. The orientation and direction of the winding of coil 52 is such that when switch contacts and 67 are swung into engagement with contacts 58 and 60, respectively, a magnetic field will be produced along the axis of solenoid 52, having a north pole at the left or front of solenoid 52, and a south pole at the right or rear of the solenoid.

The north and south poles of permanent magnet 44, in rotatable eye assembly 13, are disposed along a magnetic axis which extends at an angle displaced from the vertical as shown by the solid line in FIG. 8, the north pole being directed towards the top of the eye assembly. The orientation of the magnetic axis of magnet 44 is chosen to produce the maximum magnetic interaction with the magnetic field produced by solenoid 52. The repelling force created between the north poles of the magnet 44 and the solenoid 52 and the attractive force created by the solenoid south pole, and the north pole of magnet 44, will cause the eye assembly 16 to rotate in a clockwise direction until leg 36 contacts ledge 17. In this condition, the eye will appear open, as shown in FIG. 7. When the current through solenoid 52 is reversed, by swinging switch contacts 65 and 67 into engagement with contacts 72 and 70 the orientation of the magnetic field produced by solenoid 52 will be likewise reversed. A south pole will be produced at the left or front side of solenoid 52, while a north pole will be produced at the right or rear side. The resulting interaction between the magnetic field produced by solenoid 52 and the magnetic field of magnet 44 will cause the eye assembly 16 to rotate in a counterclockwise direction until leg 36 strikes upper ledge 15. In this position of eye assembly 16, the eye is closed, and the magnetic axis of the permanent magnet 44 now lies along the dotted line in FIG. 7.

In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the structure of the housing body 13 is modified by the placing of a soft iron rivet 74 in the rear wall of housing body 13'. A solenoid 76 surrounds the portion of rivet 74 extending beyond housing 13', rivet 74 serving as a core for solenoid 76. As in the embodiment of FIG. 7, leads 54- and 56 connect solenoid 76 to a DC. voltage source 68 through the contacts of a current reversing switch 62. The magnetic axis of solenoid 76 lies along the longitudinal axis of core 74. For purposes of explanation, assume that in the position of reversing switch 62 in which contacts 65 and 67 respectively engage contacts 58 and 60, the south pole of the solenoid will be oriented toward the rotatable eye assembly 16.

In FIG. 8, permanent magnet 44 of eye assembly 16, is positioned so that its magnetic axis is oriented at an angle to the Vertical, as shown by the solid line in FIG. 8, the south pole of magnet 44 being directed toward the upper part of eye assembly 16. The orientations of the magnetic fields of magnet 44 and solenoid 76, are chosen to achieve the maximum interaction between these magnetic fields. This is accomplished by arranging the axis of magnet 44 generally perpendicular to the field created by solenoid 76. When the solenoid is energized, the magnet 44 tends to rotate, in one direction or the other, to align its magnetic axis with the magnetic axis of the solenoid. As a result of the magnetic pole orientation described above, magnet 44, and hence the entire eye assembly 16, will rotate in a counterclockwise direction. This rotation of eye assembly 16, limited by leg 36 striking ledge 15, causes the eye to assume its closed position. Reversing the contacts of switch 62, i.e., so that contacts 65 and 67, respectively, engage contacts 72 and 70, will reverse the orientation of the north and south poles of the magnetic field of solenoid 76, thereby causing magnet 44 and eye assembly 16 to rotate in a clockwise direction, to thereby place the dolls eye in its open condition.

FIG. 9 illustrates schematically another embodiment of this invention, in which a pair of coils 78 and 78a are arranged directly above each rotatable eye assembly 16' representing schematically the structure identified by reference numeral 16 in the previously described embodiments. Each eye assembly 16 is provided with a fixedly mounted permanent magnet 44' corresponding to magnet 44 described above, whose poles are oriented in the manner shown in FIG. 9. In FIG. 9, although the eye assemblies are viewed from the side, and hence would actually be one behind the other, for the sake of illustrating both eye assemblies, they are shown side-byside. Leads and 80a extend respectively from coils 78 and 78a and a lead 82 extends from a junction 84 between the coils to a terminal of a voltage source 86. The other terminal of voltage source 86 is connected to a contact 87 of a switch 88. Switch 88 carries a pair of contact arms 89 and 89a, which are adapted to connect voltage source 86 to coils 73 and 78a. As a result, either or both of coils 78 and 78a may be energized to produce a magnetic field when its respective switch arm 89 or 89a is connected to lead 80 or 80a, respectively.

A bar magnet 90 is positioned directly to the rear of each eye assembly 16, with its north pole oriented towards the eye assembly 16'. The magnetic field intensity of magnet 90 is of lesser intensity than the field produced by coil 78 or 78a. When coil 78 is deenergized, the magnetic field between magnets 90 and 44' causes the eye assembly to pivot to the position shown in FIG. 9, corresponding to the eye closed position, and maintains eye assembly 16' in that position, until coil 78 is energized by closing the circuit between coil 78 and voltage source 86 by means of switch 88. Coils 78 and 78a are wound in such a manner that when either is connected to voltage source 86, the current flow in coil 78 or 78:: will produce a south pole directly above the north pole of magnet 44 secured to the eye located beneath that coil. The attraction force produced between the poles of coil 78 and magnet 44 overcomes the magnetic attraction between magnets 90 and 44' and therefore causes eye assembly 16' to rotate in the direction of the arrow to the eye open position. Therefore, Whenever coils 78 and/or 78a is connected to Voltage source 86, one or both of the dolls eyes will pivot to the eye open position. When the energization of the coil 78 is removed, the eye, under the solitary influence of magnet 90, will return to the eye closed position. If desired, the eye assembly 16 may be biased to either the open or closed position by means other than the bar magnet 90. For example, as shown in the right eye of FIG. 9, a ballast 91 may be added to the eye assembly 16 to position the eye in the desired condition when coil 78a is deenergized. The energization of coil 78a produces a magnetic force which overcomes the effect of ballast 91 to pivot the eye to its other position.

The embodiment of FIG. 10 is a modification of that shown in FIG. 9. Once again a pair of coils, 92 and 92a, are positioned directly above a pair of rotatable eye assemblies 16 each containing a permanent magnet 44. Leads 94 and 94a respectively connect coils 92 and 92a to switch arms 96 and 96a of a pair of single-pole double throw switches 98 and 98a. A lead 100 connects each coil 92 and 92a to a center tap 102 of a voltage source 184. By reversing the throw of switches 98 and 9811 the magnetic fields produced by coils 92 and 92a are also reversed. This reversal of field direction causes magnets 44' to rotate from a first position indicated by the solid line magnetic axis to a second position indicated by the dotted line axis. These two positions of magnet 88' cause a movement of eye assembly 16' to one of two extreme positions, as in the previously described embodiments corresponding to the eye open and eye closed positions.

It will be appreciated that modifications to the described embodiments may become apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. For use in a toy doll, a unitary eye arrangement including a simulated eye movably contained within a housing, said housing enclosing said eye but having an opening through which said eye may be viewed, cooperating means presented by said housing and eye for pivotally supporting said eye for movement with respect to said housing about an axis parallel to a line drawn between the ears of the doll in which the unitary eye arrangement is used, means for limiting the angle through which said eye is permitted to pivot, and a permanent magnet secured to and rotatable with said simulated eye,

whereby said eye may be pivoted by a magnetic field in close proximity to said eye.

2. A unitary eye arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein the magnetic axis of said permanent magnet lies perpendicular to the pivoting axis of said simulated eye.

3. A unitary eye arrangement as defined in claim 2 wherein said magnet is cylindl'ically shaped, the longitudinal axis of said magnet being perpendicular to its iagnetic axis and being coaxial with the pivoting axis of said simulated eye.

4. A unitary eye arrangement as defined in claim 2 wherein the magnetic axis of said magnet, at any given time, lies along a line extending generally from the front of the head of the doll in which the eye arrangement is used toward the back, so that one pole of said magnet is always located adjacent to the front face of the doll.

5. A unitary eye arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said limiting means includes a pair of spaced apart stops within said housing and fixed with respect thereto, and a leg extending rearwardly from said simulated eye, said stops being arranged in the path of swinging movement of said leg.

6. A unitary eye arrangement as defined in claim 1 wherein said simulated eye and magnet are balanced with respect to the axis about which said eye pivots, whereby said eye remains stationary until it is rotated by a control magnet.

7. For use in a toy doll, a unitary eye arrangement including a housing adapted to be secured to the interior 8 of the dolls head, a simulated eye pivotally mounted within said housing, a permanent magnet fixedly secured to said eye assembly, and control means arranged to provide a magnetic field in proximity to said permanent magnet for causing said eye to pivot within said housing.

8. A unitary eye arrangement as defined in claim 7 wherein said control means includes a solenoid, fixed with respect to said housing.

9. A unitary eye arrangement as defined in claim 8 wherein said solenoid surrounds said magnet.

10. A unitary eye arrangement as defined in claim 8 including means for constantly biasing said simulated eye toward a rest position, and said solenoid being arranged to urge said eye toward a different position when said solenoid is energized.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,427,210 9/ 1947 Harding.

2,427,442 9/ 1947 Campbell.

2,618,099 10/1952 Samet.

2,618,890 11/1952 Macdonald.

3,154,881 11/1964 Elwell 46169 X 3,292,610 12/1966 Newman 46169 X LOUIS G. MANCENE, Primary Examiner.

R. F. CUTTING, Assistant Examiner. 

